


Day 26: Nautica

by GemmaRose



Series: Lost Light Fest 2019 [15]
Category: Transformers (IDW 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, F/F, Miscommunication, Pining, Pirates, privateers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-02 18:24:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21166112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: On the sea, few things are certain. Nautica just wishes her friend would let her make life a little bit safer.





	Day 26: Nautica

**Author's Note:**

> Captain is what Velocity calls herself as a pirate, it’s a bit of a Dread Pirate Roberts sorta deal.

Nautica laughed as she staggered to a stop, Captain’s hand held tight in hers. “We’ve lost them.” she gasped, leaning heavily on the lovely pirate femme and relishing the contact.

“Yeah, I think we have.” Captain agreed, releasing Nautica’s hand to slide an arm around her waist. “Now let’s get you home.”

Nautica hummed noncommittally, letting her helm rest against Captain’s shoulder and basking in the speedster’s warm field. “Could be your home.” she suggested, and Captain snorted.

“I’ve got my own ship, thank you very much.”

“Always so polite.” Nautica smiled, letting her optic shutters slide closed and trusting Captain not to walk her into a wall. The pirate shrugged, and Nautica wondered again why she was so reluctant to speak about her past. Surely it couldn’t be worse than what Nautica had shared of her own, a forced bonding and the subsequent steps taken to ensure his Letter of Marque became hers. “It could still be your home too.” she pointed out after a few comfortable kliks of silence between them.

“You’re not going to give up on that, are you?” Captain asked, and Nautica unshuttered her optics as the speedster’s field went cool and drew in towards her frame.

“I’m not giving up on _you_.” she corrected, because Captain still hadn’t seemed to grasp that distinction. “What would it hurt?”

“It would hurt _me_.” Captain said, glyphs sharp enough to cut. “You know what it’s like to be trapped in your life, to love the sea for its freedom. I’ve sacrificed too much for my freedom to sign it away.”

Nautica made a low, sub-glyphic sound and stopped walking to pull Captain into a hug. “I would never hurt you.” she promised, and meant it with all her spark. They’d not exchanged more than a warning shot across the bow in ages, not since the two of them had started meeting up in dockside taverns for a night of conversation and cheap engex and wandering hands. She pulled back, and her spark ached at the look on Captain’s face. “You know that, right?”

“I know.” Captain nodded, pulling one of Nautica’s arms from around her chassis to place Nautica’s palm to her face. “And I won’t let you break that promise.”

“Why not join me?” Nautica asked as Captain leaned into her hand, optics shuttering with a slow, deep ex-vent. “Fly my flag with your own, be one of my fleet.”

“Having one less country after my helm isn’t as much of a draw as you seem to think it is.” Captain chuckled, field flickering melancholy.

“Then what would be?” Nautica pressed. She didn’t want to see Captain’s beautiful ship sunk, didn’t want to think of her friend rusting in a jail cell until she was dragged before a firing squad to have her processor blown out and spark shattered, but that was what _happened_ to pirates. At least, the ones caught by the Camien government. From what she’d heard, other countries did things like melt them alive, hang them out for vibravultures, force them to burn out their own T-cogs. None of those countries had half the presence of Caminus in these waters though, just ships passing through.

“Nothing you can offer.” Captain said, her subglyphs heavy with sorrow as she raised a hand to cover Nautica’s on her cheek. “I wish you could. More than anything, Nautica, I wish I could have you and my freedom both.” her field flared out towards Nautica, earnest and pleading, full of a _yearning_ for something Nautica wished she could name. “But when the Vector became mine, I swore I’d never answer to another mech as long as I lived. Not for love or money.”

“What about for safety?” Nautica asked as Captain pulled away.

“If I die, I die.” Captain shook her helm. “That’s how it’s been since I set foot on the Vector.”

“But it doesn’t _have_ to be.” Nautica reached out, and Captain stepped further away.

“Yes, it does.” she said, furling her field too tight for Nautica to read it. “I’m a pirate, Nautica. No more, no less. I’m going to sail under my own flag until the day I die.” she turned away, and Nautica’s spark ached as she watched her friend walk off down the dock.

“That’s what I’m worried about.” she said, her voice coming out soft and small, the star-speckled sky feeling far too close and heavy. What was it that kept Captain from accepting her protection? Why did she eschew all _sense_ as soon as the topic of her own life came up? Most of all, what was it that Captain wanted so badly? If she could find that, if she could present it to the other femme... perhaps she could convince Captain that she wanted her safe, not obedient. Just because Caminus had a leash around her neck didn’t mean that she was going to put one around the neck of her best friend outside the crew of the Wanderer.

She watched Captain turn out of sight, and her shoulders slumped as she heaved a heavy sigh. Someday, she would find out what Captain coveted. Someday she would deliver it, and earn Captain’s trust, and be able to ensure that her friend was safe as a pirate-turned-privateer could be. But tonight there was nothing she could do. Nothing but return to her cabin and recharge, and pray to Solus that she had something to work with come morning.


End file.
